


Noie's Trip

by ToothPasteCanyon (DannyFenton123)



Series: Noie's Brother [3]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Alternate Universe - Transcendence (Gravity Falls), Gen, Zine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-13
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:48:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26994670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DannyFenton123/pseuds/ToothPasteCanyon
Summary: After four long, uneventful years, highschool was finally over. Noie was going to make sure her and her brother had a better time in college together - she just had to make sure he picked the right one.This piece was for the 2020 Transcendence AU Zine!
Series: Noie's Brother [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1694140
Comments: 2
Kudos: 20
Collections: 2020 Transcendence AU Zine Writing Entries





	Noie's Trip

It had been a year since nothing happened. Noie was seventeen years old, and life was coming up fast. She couldn’t wait to be done with high school, couldn’t wait to  _ get out of here… _

It had been a year since nothing happened, and Noie had taken her brother on a road trip to tour around one of the state universities. It was a bit of a drive through lonely desert roads, and Noie had the whole weekend set up - she’d booked a motel for a night, filled up her gas tank, queued up all the music and audiobooks they could possibly need… it was gonna be great.

“Isn’t it… a little far from home, Noie?”

“Yeah! I mean, it’s not out of state, but it’s still pretty far out! No one’s gonna bother us out here.”

“But SASU’s so much closer.”

“Oh, you… wanna stay closer to them?”

“Yeah! And I’ve been looking it up, SASU has a great paranormal maths program…”

It had been a year since nothing happened, and this road trip was going to go  _ great. _ Dipper was going to be impressed. They stopped at a gas station, and continued south, into the darkness.

“What does that light mean?”

“Oh… oh, shoot, we got a flat tire.”

“What?! We’re in the middle of nowhere, how are we-”

“Don’t panic! I’ll just change the tire. Gimme one second, bro bro!”

It had been a year since nothing happened, and Noie stared at the slashes in her tires. She watched a plain truck pull over in front of them, and felt her blood run cold.

It had been a year since absolutely nothing happened. Noie was a normal teenager with a normal brother, touring universities like any normal person would do. She’d never been involved in any demonic stuff in her life.

So why was she now being bound and gagged and dragged into the desert by cultists? Why were they asking her brother about some kind of demon fight in a convenience store? _ What was going on? _

“Tell us how you banished the Dreambender! Tell us  _ now, _ or else!”

Noie felt the knife’s edge press into her skin, and she could only gulp.

She had  _ no idea _ what they were talking about. Oh god, they were going to kill her, weren’t they? And they were going to kill Dipper.

Oh god.

_ Oh, god. _

* * *

Dipper’s head pounded. His heart raced. He could hardly even concentrate on the cultist interrogating him; his eyes only fixed on the circle being drawn before them. The magic coming off it…  _ stars,  _ his brain felt like it was coming out of his ears. 

“How did your sister do it? How did she bind our Lord? Tell us!”

“Lord?” Dipper squinted to the side, where he could make out a blobby figure. “Noie? A-are you-”

“Do  _ not  _ speak to her!” The slap barely registered in his mind; Noie’s gasp did. “Just tell us how she banished Alcor, and we won’t kill you. We need only one sacrifice tonight. Tell us what happened at the convenience store, and it won’t be you.”

_ Alcor. _ That name rang strangely in Dipper’s head. He squeezed his eyes shut, but the circle still seemed to draw his gaze. His head was killing him… and the shouting wasn’t helping.

“He doesn’t know anything! Don’t hurt him!”

“Be quiet-”

“But we didn’t  _ do  _ anything! You think I know how to banish a demon? I’ve never seen one in my life!”

“You lie! I saw you after the convenience store exploded - you and that vampire banished him!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

“I saw you banish him from the world, from our circles! He hasn’t answered our summons in years! I know he yearns for freedom; it was clearly his wish that I witnessed what I did, his wish that I find you and set him free! Now  _ tell me how you did it!” _

Noie said nothing - if Dipper could think, he’d assume she was stunned into silence.

But he couldn’t think. He couldn’t even try. The circle… his eyes were closed, but the lines burned themselves into his retinas regardless. He watched as the Twin Star was traced in the centre, and grit his teeth as the pressure in his head swelled to an unbearable pain. His whole body felt like it was going to burst out of his skin.

He wasn’t just being torn apart, he was being pulled.

Towards the circle.

The circle.

_ The circle… _

“Dipper!”

Dipper barely felt the hands that were lifting and dragging him. He was feeling other things; feeling little rips form in the fabric of his mind, feeling strange tidbits of information trickle in like fire on his brain.

“This is your last chance,  _ girl. _ Tell us how you banished him, or we’ll send his soul to the Dreambender!”

All of a sudden he  _ knew  _ that that cultist’s name was Rodney Smith. He worked at a car dealership, and none of his employees liked him. He had a warrant out for his arrest - a contempt of court charge for that DUI hearing he skipped.

“No! Don’t kill him! Don’t kill him, I’ll do anything!  _ Dipper!” _

He knew Naomi Faybelle Argenta desperately wanted them to go to the same college, even as it was becoming clear they had different needs. She’d booked this whole trip for him, even though she’d already made up her mind. She only queued up his favourite tunes for the ride over, because she knew he didn’t really like her louder music.

He knew how many times she’d cry in her life. He knew she was going to get dementia like her grandmother. He knew the day she was going to die.

He knew.  _ He knew. He knew heknewheknewheknewheknewohgodstop stopithurtsheknewhe- _

He knew there was blood on the circle. His blood…  _ on his circle. _

The bubble of his mind  _ popped _ then, and suddenly Alcor knew exactly what was going on. He let out a rumbling groan, and then stretched out his wings. It felt good to throw off that meatsack, to let magic crackle over his form.

“M-my lord! You’re here! You’re back!” 

_ Them. _ He cracked a golden eye open to see the humans who had destroyed his human body. They were approaching - nervously? Reverently? Some were nervous. The one in front was revenant, its hands extended out like it wanted to touch Alcor.

“I can’t believe it! I freed you! I freed you, my lord!” The human laughed maniacally. “I followed all your signs, and now,  _ now  _ you’re here to reward me!”

Alcor growled as it approached, making it stop short of the circle. Still, there was an earnestness to this one’s aura; he could have fun with this.

“A̸̲̹̠̞̥̱̪h̹̪̱̹̼,̷͎̲̘͈̣ͅ ̼̹͙̗̙͓͔s҉͈̝̫̲o̸̭̘ ̜̥̖͇y͏̙̥̝o̮͖͈̦u̮̹̺̻͔̝͞ͅ ̨̹̝̪̩w̞̣̭̣̻̳͠o̦̥̫̥̻ṵl͇d̷̘͕̺̻ ̜̪̺̖̙l̫̥̞͕̟̭͡ͅi̦̻̗k̢̮̫e̤͎̘̱̥͉ ̧͉̙̤̰̤̩a͢ ̼͙̤͔f̮͓i̯t̲͔̭ṯi͜n͎̦̝̮̝̫͞g̼̯͇͢ ͈̘̩̻r̞͇͠e̶͓̞̱̻ͅẉa̭͇̦͚̙r̥̯͉̬̼d̖͈͍̣͇.” Alcor stepped out of the chalk lines, his smile going wide and jagged. “Ș̴̻t҉̙e̘̙̯̫̥͕p̳͚͖̺̥ ̢̭ͅfo̴rw̢̠̰̦̻̜̞a̮̲ͅr̛̺̰̺̜̰ͅd͙̰͎͙ͅ,̖ͅ ͔̩̬͈t̳̪͇̼͙̮̘͜h̝̣͍͎ęn̜͈̠̯͍̲͙,͈͝ ̤̣̣a̧͍̙͍͎͙͉͈n̙͖̺̞͎̙̺͠d̯͇̟͔̮̹ ͎͈͇r̵̜̻̭e͙̭̺ͅc͔̭̱̰̣͔e̯̝͖͡i̬̝͍͟v̥̜̤͍e̟̳̺̘͕̯̕ ̩̭͇̬w̢̻͖̻̜h̪͈̺̭͍̣a̪̠t͚ ͠i̸͔̪͇̬s̪͔ ̠̯͇̖̲o̙̕w̺̟͎̗̻͔e̟͈̭͉͉̲d̴̲͍̮̯͎͙ ͔̯̜͉̬̪̕ͅt̻ͅo̗ ̥̖͝y͔̞̮͍o͚͔̫̪̙u͔̙͖̝.”

The human stepped forward with a wild shine in its eyes. Alcor looked it up and down. Then he chuckled, unhinged his jaw, and went for the throat.

The screams from the other cultists tasted as sweet as the blood bubbling into his mouth. He stopped a moment to savour it, and then he chewed down further, biting through bone and sinew and a soundless scream to get to… _ The soul. _

Alcor gave a full-body shudder as his teeth scraped it;  _ stars, _ it had been too long since he’d eaten something so delicious. He dug his claws into the body’s shoulders, clamped his teeth around the soul, and  _ ripped it out. _

It tasted like wonderful pain. Alcor gulped it down in seconds, then set his eyes on the other cultists running into the desert. There was no moon tonight, but none of them escaped his gaze. None of them would escape him.

With a dark chuckle, he rose up from the ground, letting shadows descend onto the land, letting the blue fire dancing across his fingertips burn hot on the fear in the air, and-

He felt it.

Just above his ankle.

A silver knife - the same one that had slit his meatsack’s throat - was embedded in his form. The enchantments stung a bit, and he looked down, confused, to see who dared challenge the Dreambender…  _ and ohh shit, ohhh no- _

_ “You killed him!” _ His own Mizar stared him down with murder in her eyes. Her hands, shaking and still tied with rope she’d cut, were grabbing at his shirt, dragging him down. “I’m gonna kill you!  _ I’m gonna kill you!” _

Alcor felt his stomach drop. He reached out a hand. “Mizar-”

_ “I’m gonna kill you!” _

Mizar wrenched down; in his shock, he only watched as she tackled him to the ground and stabbed him in the chest. He felt it go in and out, then in and out again and then he caught her arms.

“You can’t hurt me, Mizar.”

_ “I don’t care!” _ She tried to wiggle free of his grip.  _ “Let me go!” _

“Mizar-”

“Just let me go! Just let me go!”

Alcor watched her struggle against him for another moment, the pit in his stomach deepening as he remembered the person this soul had formed around. He watched Noie give one final tug, then sniff and gasp and choke and dissolve into a moaning sob over her hands.

The knife fell onto the dirt, and when Alcor let go, she sank down to lay beside it. He stood, and stared at the black despair of her aura…

And the red blood on his hands. Blood was everywhere; blood was all over his front, and blood was crusting around his mouth, and blood was leaving a bitter taste in his mouth. And where there was no blood? There was void, and there was teeth, and there was not a hint of the Dipper Argenta that Noie wanted to see.

He looked like a demon, devouring a cultist’s soul over a circle of candles… he looked like a  _ monster. _

The thought caught in his throat, and his hand went to where she’d stabbed him. He hesitated, there, for a moment, and the only sound to be heard was the buzz of crickets and the broken sobbing of his sister.

Then Alcor swallowed his thoughts. Right now, Noie needed her brother back. She didn’t need a monster. She didn’t need him.

So with an arm that trembled, he raised his fingers and set about bringing everything back to normal.

_ Snap. _

* * *

“Nearly - ugh - done with the tire, bro!” Noie beamed at her brother as she tightened the lugnuts. “This oughtta be enough to get us into town! I’ll look up tire places once we’ve got service again - don’t you worry about anything!”

Dipper Argenta could’ve lied to himself and pretended the strain in her smile was only from changing the tire, but Alcor knew better. He tried to smile back, tried not to see the panic simmering in her aura.

“And we’ll still make it to the motel before check-in time! This is still gonna be the best trip ever!”

“I’m sure it will be, Noie.”

“You better believe it! And in the morning, we’ll get up, and - and apparently there’s this really good tea shop in town, we’ll check that out and then go look around! It’ll be amazing!”

“I’m sure it will be, Noie.” Dipper looked out into the darkness, and sighed. “I’m sure… I’m sure it will be.”

“Dipper? You, uh… okay?”

He looked back to her, and smiled. “I’m okay. Everything’s okay.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. Yeah, just…” Dipper rubbed his neck. “Once we get into town, I need to go to the bathroom, or something. I need to clear my head.”

“Why? What’s wrong?” She stood up. “Is it a magic headache?”

“Yeah… let’s go with that. I just need a few minutes, though. Then I’ll be fine.” He looked down at his shoes. “Then everything will be back to normal, and… we’ll have fun.”

Dipper stood there for a moment in silence. Then, he felt an arm come and wrap around him. Noie smiled at him, and patted his shoulder.

“Alright.” She motioned to the car. “Well, the tire’s changed, so we better get a move on, huh?”

“Yeah. You’re right. No point in hanging around.”

Noie gave him a squeeze, and then with a laugh she pulled him towards the car. She started the engine, and the audiobook they’d been listening to started talking once again. Dipper tried for a smile at that, but it didn’t stick.

Things felt almost normal as they got back on the road... but he already knew the ending.


End file.
